Chapter 72

Yan Yi said, "That's not for you to know. If the Xianzun wanted to tell you, he'd say it outright—like with this operation, where he's kept nothing from you, even letting you take the lead. But if he doesn't want to tell you, then there's no point asking. You won't get an answer."

Yan Yi's tone was neither humble nor arrogant. "You should probably get ready to leave. It's getting late."

Lin Yu didn't press further. The sky had already darkened, and the winter night's haze made it hard to see in the distance. She gave the order to the group: "Let's move out."

This time, there was nothing for Lin Yu to do—she wasn't skilled in combat anyway. Yan Yi and Bai Yue led the formation at the front; she only needed to follow behind the others as a formality.

The back mountain was already thick with clouds and mist, and with the sky dimmed, nearly nothing was visible. To avoid falls or getting lost, the group moved slowly. In the darkness, the sea of white robes was easy to pick out. Lin Yu didn't stay too close to them, keeping a moderate distance as she walked leisurely at the rear.

Before midnight, the group left the Heaven's Mandate Tower and cast concealment spells in unison. The crowd ahead vanished quickly, leaving the empty ground as if only Lin Yu were walking alone, with nothing by her side.

"Di Ting, follow them," Lin Yu said softly.

A faint glimmer of light materialized behind her. Today, Di Ting wore a moon-white robe, the standard attire of the Heaven's Mandate Tower disciples. He quickly caught up to the invisible crowd ahead, using magic to hide his form and blend in among them.

Lin Yu called out to the empty scene: "Senior brothers and sisters, please go on ahead. I'll catch up shortly."

Bai Yue assumed Lin Yu couldn't keep up with them since she knew no spells and couldn't see them, so she figured Lin Yu just didn't want to trail behind and would appear once things were done to inspect the results. She quickened her pace, and the others sped up along with her.

Lin Yu watched the faint point of light at the very back draw closer, and she couldn't help but curl the corners of her lips.

The Ghost King wasn't a tough opponent by any stretch, but fighting those Heaven's Mandate Tower people, he could at least stall them for an hour. Her gaze sharpened on the distance, quickly locking onto another beam of light. Now, she would use this window to do something else.

...

The Imperial Preceptor's residence.

Lin Yu stood on the rooftop, looking down. The front courtyard of the estate was brightly lit, with many maids and servants moving about, and the yard was crowded with people at an odd hour.

Lin Yu was puzzled. She glanced elsewhere—standing so high, she could make out the streets for two blocks around. In the alley just beyond the estate's wall, a night watchman carried a lantern.

So late, what was he doing at the residence?

Lin Yu observed from above. Several older maids hurried back and forth, looking flustered. She picked a moment when fewer people were around, leaped down from the high wall, and landed at the edge of the rockery behind the pond to watch them.

From what Lin Yu had seen, for seven straight days, Fu Ming hadn't summoned Yu Jia again. And since Yu Jia's last report at the palace, he hadn't left the residence either.

"Hurry, hurry, take these to the west courtyard. They're almost done over there."

"Little Cui!" an older maid suddenly snapped. "Oh, why are you still here? Are you done or not? Move it, move it!"

The maid grabbed the servant girl named Little Cui and shoved her forward, then stopped a line of maids. "Go with them. Say some auspicious congratulations, and don't slip up!"

Little Cui nodded quickly and obediently followed the other maids through the courtyard corridor toward the back. In no time, everyone had rushed to the back courtyard, leaving only the sixty-something maid in the front hall.

Seeing that everyone had gone, the maid finally let out a sigh of relief. She braced her waist and groaned, clearly worn out. She muttered under her breath, "A bunch of troublemakers. Can't even have a quiet New Year—picking the middle of the night to say they're getting married. It's mad!"

Getting married? Lin Yu, hidden in the dark corner, stopped in her tracks. She looked up and happened to catch a white-haired old man hurrying over. She pressed herself against the wall's edge.

"Hey, Steward Zhao, why are you back so soon?" the maid greeted him.

The steward came out from the back courtyard. He looked around to make sure no one else was there before approaching the maid. "The master saw this old servant working half the night and told me to rest. He said the girls can handle the rest."

"Well, lucky you, then. The rest of us don't know when we'll get off," the maid said with envy in her eyes. "Tell me, what's the master up to? Has he been possessed by some evil spirit, acting all odd day in and day out? Have you seen that girl before?"

The steward leaned close and lowered his voice. "Seen her twice. And I say the master's lost his mind—who gets married after midnight? Let's not even talk about how it should be arranged by the parents with a matchmaker. An hour ago, he suddenly said to prepare for a wedding. Where are we supposed to find red cloth, candles, and wedding wine in the middle of the night? It's run us servants ragged."

"Do you think he's really been possessed? Didn't the master bring a girl home before? I originally thought she was trying to climb the social ladder by latching onto the master, but Little Cui told me that girl didn't want to marry him at all."

"What? Didn't she stay at the residence for a while? They shared a room, got along wonderfully. The master treated her well—like a proper husband and wife. I thought their wedding was coming soon. But then she argued with the master in the middle of the night, and suddenly insisted on leaving. I even tried to persuade her back then. What happened between them?"

"Little Cui said she got pregnant. The master wanted to keep the child, but it seems neither of them wanted to get married."

Hiding in the dark, Lin Yu's body went rigid at these words. She trembled uncontrollably, her heart pounding so hard she could hear only its violent thudding, numbing the left side of her body.

"Why on earth? That's nonsense!"

"Ah, Little Cui said that girl came from the Heaven's Mandate Tower too. Young, with deep blessings—who knows what bright future she might have. I wouldn't want to marry and waste my life either."

"Both of them not wanting to get married is fine, but here's the problem: the girl didn't want the child, but the master wanted it born."

The maid continued, "That night, I was on night duty in the back courtyard. I don't know why they fought, but I heard every word. The master wanted to meet the girl's family, but she seemed unwilling..."

The maid clapped her hands. "Well, think about it—what a mess. They have a child together, neither wants to marry, and the master doesn't even know where her family lives or how many are in it. The master was like an outsider. My guess is..."

"I think the master realized she didn't care for him, wouldn't tell him anything, and suddenly woke up to it. So they broke it off."

The steward's eyes went wide, stifling a gasp. "You... you mean our master flew into a rage and decided to marry someone else out of spite? That doesn't add up either. I saw her once in the early morning. I was by the gate and asked where she was going. She said the master wanted chestnut cakes from the tavern south of the city, and she'd go buy them. She didn't seem fake at all..."

"By that logic, that's true too... Only Little Cui in our household was close to her. The rest of us probably never even saw her more than a couple of times—didn't even know her name. And a pregnancy is hard on a woman. Pregnant women get bad tempers, and the master didn't give in to her. They fought, and after she ran off that night..." The maid paused here.

"After what?" the steward urged. "Spit it out, don't keep me hanging."

"The day after was the Moon God Festival. It seemed something was short, like offerings, or some other reason. The master mentioned it to me later, but I didn't remember clearly. Anyway, the Xianzun ordered the number of sacrifices to be made up. And it just so happened that girl had left, so..." The maid drew a finger across her neck.

"She was killed the moment she went back?" The steward was shocked.

"Alas, poor thing. Had she stayed, she'd have dodged death. They wouldn't dare kill her here at the Imperial Preceptor's residence, would they?"

The steward sighed too. "Tragic. Her and the child, gone in a flash... Those Heaven's Mandate Tower people are truly wicked—they don't even spare a pregnant woman."

Lin Yu forced her breathing to stay steady. Her throat was inexplicably dry and hoarse. She didn't listen further—or rather, she didn't dare. Most of the front hall's lamps had gone out. She blended quietly into the shadows and made her way toward the back courtyard.

Past the narrow corridor and the stone bridge by the pond, the back courtyard opened up. The spacious yard was strung with big red lanterns, their warm candlelight muffled by red paper.

Crimson light spilled across the ground and eaves. Everywhere she looked, double happiness characters were pasted up. The blazing red fell on Lin Yu's eyes, and she found it blinding.

She didn't notice her palms clenching, nails digging into her skin without registering pain. The maid's and steward's conversation echoed in her mind, jumbled words washing past, leaving only one phrase: a tragic mistake.

On the eve of the Moon God Festival, Lin Zhao had stormed out in the middle of the night, returning to the Heaven's Mandate Tower. At the same time, Lin Yu had killed the general's daughter and the steward, fleeing under cover of darkness, rushing to the tower to reunite with her sister.

But by the time she arrived, only a corpse drained of blood remained.

So close—she could have seen the sister she'd been parted from for half a year. Yet the Xianzun's blade had come one step faster than Lin Yu.

A dull, knife-like ache swept over her heart again. Soon, red threads crept into her eyes—whether from the endless exhaustion or the crimson scene before her, she couldn't say.

Before long, the maids at the door filed out. Lin Yu used magic to conceal herself and brushed past them, heading into the bright red wedding chamber. Night wind rose, blowing a crack in the door, making the frame groan softly.

The moment Lin Yu's form neared the threshold, the wind surged violently. The gap in the door burst open, slamming both panels hard against the walls. The frame and the wall base shuddered with a deafening crash, nearly splintering the flimsy wooden doors. Lin Yu rode the gale into the room.

"Who's there?" the bride, seated at the bed with a red veil over her head, cried out in alarm.

There was nowhere to hide in the room, but Lin Yu had no intention of hiding anyway. With light steps, she walked to the other end of the wedding bed and stood, tilting her head to study the bride without a shred of hesitation.

From her build, she was far too thin, like a sheet of paper sitting there, as if a stronger gust of wind could shatter her.

The bride waited, but no one answered. She pulled at her bridal sleeves and tried again, "Little Cui, are you still there?"

Still no response, only the rustle of wind.

"How strange..." the bride muttered. She lifted a corner of her veil, about to close the door.

Just then, Yu Jia, also in wedding attire, walked in from outside. He stepped forward, supporting the bride's arms and carefully guiding her back to the bed. There was a hint of reproach in his tone: "Didn't I tell you not to wander off?"

"I wasn't wandering off—the wind blew the door open..." the bride explained softly, head lowered. Her voice was so faint that even from a foot away, Lin Yu could barely make it out.

"You..." Yu Jia seemed about to fuss further, but he quickly sensed something wrong. "Who's there?!"

TL Note:

double happiness characters (囍) = a traditional Chinese wedding symbol for marital bliss.